Taylor excited by British diving prospects in Rio

25 September 2015 / 11:02

When Leon Taylor won silver with Pete Waterfield at Athens 2004 the pair ended a 44-year diving medal-drought for Team GB.

The result for the 10m synchro pair was Britain’s best since silver came for Beatrice Armstrong in 1920 and was the country’s sixth since diving made its first appearance at the summer Olympics in 1904.

Luckily for Britain the wait for the next medal wasn’t quite as long with Tom Daley taking bronze at the London Aquatics Centre and, if recent performances are anything to go by, there will be more to follow in 2016.

At this year’s World Aquatics Championships, Britain were in fine form, finishing second in the medal table behind China.

There was gold for Tom Daley and Rebecca Gallantree in the mixed team while there were medals for Jack Laugher in the 3m springboard, 3m synchro with Chris Mears and Daley won individual bronze in the 10m.

And Taylor believes the next generation are now in a position to add a new chapter to British diving history at the Olympics.

“To be able to watch the divers do so well and finish second on the medal table is incredible,” said Taylor.

“It is unheard of, we normally only win one medal at the World Championships.

“To come away with four medals is exceptional work and the good news is it is not about one diver or a pair of divers it’s strength across all disciplines.

“What is really nice is Jack now kind of shares the expectation and the pressure a little bit.

“He has been working hard over the last couple of years and now it is really nice for the whole team to take on that expectation and excitement.

“However it is not only about the boys either you also have Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow who narrowly missed out of medals in Kazan, so they are hungry we are in a really good place for next summer.”

While Taylor knows that Britain’s finest have the ability to make waves in Rio he knows that one dropped dive can be the difference between success and failure.

But he is confident that the current crop can produce consistent performances when the pressure is on.

“All diving is technical we can look at any dive and go that’s technical; however diving is also all about consistency,” he said.

“It is not about your best dive, it is about all six of your dives if you’re a man or five of your dives if you are female and you have to hit all of them, otherwise you would be nowhere near the business end of the field.

“They are familiar with the pool and they go back out there in February 2016 for the World Diving Cup.

“They will be able to familiarise themselves with what is going on. I think it is kind of an indoor, outdoor so you have a roof but it has open sides.

“That means that you will be protected from the sun but will be a little bit cold when the wind comes through. It is the same for everyone and it is about getting used to that environment so you can do your best under those circumstances whether that is cold, warm, windy we just have to wait and see.”